The Naiad Voyages

Mark Austen

2016.10.20 - Cockpit Coamings I

Thursday, 20 October, 2016

This afternoon I just couldn't face unscrewing the port cockpit locker, sealing it and then putting it back together again so I made a start on the cockpit coamings. Essentially the top edge of the plywood surrounding the cockpit will be widened by adding a lump of wood to the outside edge which will be rounded to give a smooth edge to the cockpit. At the moment the plywood is "sharp" with corners but even it it were rounded off it would still be uncomfortable to hold.

The tricky bit is bending the additional piece of wood to follow the coaming as it rises to meet the cabin side and in the end I didn't do it this way. Instead I cut the bend out of a wider piece of wood as you will see for the photos below.

The photos were all taken after the task was complete for the evening and here you can see the bend that I referred to above.

The part behind the bend is straight and not problem at all.

Both sides have a piece of wood clamped over the joint between the aft most piece of wood and the bend to avoid a kink forming there while the epoxy cures.

The piece of wood in front of the bend was also straight but as you can see from this photo, it tapers in height towards the cabin.

It also tapers in width and cutting that was interesting.

Once the epoxy cures the plywood and coaming will be trimmed to match each other, some sanding done if there are any areas that don't look right and then the top edges of the coaming will be rounded. Hopefully that will be one of tomorrow's tasks.

The finishing of the cockpit seat will also be a task for tomorrow as will making the poop deck fit a little better now the coaming is done.